Haven | 4:30pm-5:30pm | Sunday 27th of April 2025

 

This coming Sunday at Haven (4:30pm 27/4), we gather around the Lord's Table and focus on the One who died and rose again for us. We’re also going to contemplate what is called ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’

The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, when they asked him how they should pray.

Most Christians know the prayer by heart in their own language, and it is used today by every Christian tradition, though there are sometimes minor variations in the wording. The prayer is a pattern or template showing the key ingredients of true prayer:

• We bless God and pray for our world, our communities and our lives to be shaped by God’s will;
• We pray for daily needs to be met,
• We ask for forgiveness for wrongdoings, strength to resist temptation and protection from danger.

I think the best remembered version is in an older language style:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

⭐️ HAVEN OVER EASTER ⭐️

Hi everyone,

We wouldn’t be meeting up at the Mernda Uniting Church over Easter. Instead we are encouraged to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter,  with our brothers and sisters in other local churches.

Some of us will be away, and for others, if you have had a connection with some other local faith community — by all means join them in their services!

Two ideas to consider:

— 10am Good Friday 18 April — Combined Churches Service in Hurstbridge - Ferguson's Paddock (12 Arthurs Creek Rd, Hurstbridge) SEE HERE FOR INFO

— 10:00am Easter Sunday 20 April — Join in with our friends at Diamond Valley Baptist Church to celebrate Easter —  Venue: 309 Diamond Creek Rd, Plenty. (DVBC has been supportive of us as we have got started!) SEE HERE FOR INFO

— We’re then back again as per usual:

4:30pm-5:30pm 27 April — Worship Focus: Gather around the Communion table, draw strength & reflect on The Lord's Prayer.  Light refreshments: UCA, 97 Schotters Rd, Mernda. SEE HERE FOR TERM TWO PROGRAM

Grace and peace

Martin

Easter Service 20th of April 2025

 

• 20/04  —  10:00am-11:30am Easter Sunday
• Join in with our friends at Diamond Valley Baptist Church to celebrate Easter — Or ...  if you have a connection with another congregation, feel free to join with them! 
• Venue: 309 Diamond Creek Rd, Plenty

Note: We are not meeting back in the afternoon at Mernda Uniting Church till 

4.30pm Sunday 27th of April! See Term 2 timetable HERE

Coming to the City Nearest You!

 'Palm Sunday' by John Swanson

Jesus comes to Jerusalem, the city nearest you.

Jesus comes to the gate, to the synagogue,

to houses prepared for wedding parties,

to the pools where people wait to be healed,

to the temple where lambs are sold,

to gardens, beautiful in the moonlight.

He comes to the governor’s palace.

Jesus comes to Jerusalem, the city nearest you,

to new subdivisions and trailer parks,

to penthouses and basement apartments,

to the factory, the hospital and the Cinema complex,

to the big to the big shopping centre centre & to churches,

with the same old same old message,

unchanged from the beginning of time.

Jesus comes to Jerusalem, the city nearest you

with his Good News and…

Hope erupts! Joy springs forth!

The very stones cry out,

“Hosanna in the highest,

blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The crowds jostle and push,

they can’t get close enough!

People running alongside 

flinging down their coats before him!

Jesus, the parade marshal, waving, smiling.

The paparazzi elbow for room,

looking for that perfect picture for the headline,

“The Man Who Would Be King”.

           

Jesus comes to Jerusalem, the city nearest you

and gets the red carpet treatment.

Children waving real palm branches from the florist,

silk palm branches from K-mart,

palms made from green art paper.

Hosannas ringing in churches, chapels, cathedrals,

in monasteries, basilicas and home-meetings.

King Jesus, honoured in a thousand hymns

in Canada, Cameroon, Calcutta and Canberra.

We LOVE this great big powerful capital K-King Jesus

coming in glory and splendor and majesty

and awe and power and might.

Jesus comes to Jerusalem, the city nearest you.

Kingly, he takes a towel and washes feet.

With majesty, he serves bread and wine.

With honour, he prays all night.

With power, he puts on chains.

Jesus, King of all creation, appears in state

in the eyes of the prisoner, 

the AIDS orphan, the crack addict,

asking for one cup of cold water,

one coat shared with someone who has none,

one heart, yours,

and a second mile.

Jesus comes to Jerusalem, the city nearest you.

Can you see him?

Adapted from a piece by Contemporary Canadian poet Carol Penner, a Mennonite pastor, who reminds us that the events of Palm Sunday and Holy Week are not simply historical events; they are present realities. 

Combined Churches Good Friday Service | 10am 18th April 2025

Haven | Palm Sunday | 5:00pm - 6:00pm | Meal together

Palm Sunday

5:00pm - 6:00pm Sunday 13th of April 2025

Venue: UCA, 97 Schotters Rd, Mernda

We will share a meal together and reflect on those last seven days of Jesus life leading up to Easter.

Bring a plate to share (enough for yourselves and maybe a portion more). We'll put the food out, buffet style, and folk can help themselves. 

***   ***   ***   ***

"...As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they
came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”

4 This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,

5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem,

    ‘Look, your King is coming to you.

He is humble, riding on a donkey—

    riding on a donkey’s colt.’”

Contemplative walk coming up!

 Looking forward to our contemplative walk on Sunday 5/4! The weather looks just right!

We park on the streets near the corner of Glenwood Ave & Wilton Vale Rd, Mernda (1). Map ref here:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/uHWCLdd9WGcUvpD77   

Try to get there around 4pm. then at about 4.10pm we’ll then walk to our ’starting’ place in the park (2) for a bit of an intro and then we’ll start strolling.

I’ll have  a handout for everyone including a paper map and a guide for reflection as we go around the area. It’s not a long or difficult walk around the wet-lamds (No loos!)

If you are running late, you can see where we are on the map attached…